


The New Recruit

by JustAndrea



Series: The Awesome Redemption Arc [2]
Category: Wander Over Yonder
Genre: Gen, PTSD Emperor Awesome, Takes place after the S2 finale of WoY, mild danger, mild violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-21
Updated: 2016-12-02
Packaged: 2018-09-01 09:18:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 12,411
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8618728
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JustAndrea/pseuds/JustAndrea
Summary: With his reputation in the toilet and his mind still having a lot of issues to deal with, Awesome decides to go to desperate measures in order to try and get back on his feet - and he would definitely call joining the Hater Empire’s army being desperate.





	1. Chapter 1

He had stopped feeling tired about three days ago - that little concoction that the nerd had cooked up for him really did some wonders - but he still barely left his assigned bed. Oh sure, when he was hungry he made his way to the food court or would get up to use the restroom, or would walk around for a bit when he couldn’t sleep and his meds hadn’t quite kicked in yet. Heck, he even took a shower in the one of the Watchdog locker rooms once. 

But it seemed like no matter what he did, Awesome was never on his feet for more than half an hour (which he acknowledged was very unusual for him, considering how active he usually was), and he always found himself walking back to that thin hospital bed and laying back down, despite not really needing to sleep and the Skullship sick bay being boring. And it was indeed _incredibly_ flarping boring, especially since he refused to turn on any tvs or bring up any social media sites on his phone. The most he did was try to start up a conversation with one of the Watchdogs that was injured or one of the doctors, but those never lasted long. 

And, as another day started to come to a close (at least, he was pretty sure it was. It was starting to get hard to keep track of time too.), the former emperor knew he was running out of options. He knew he couldn’t just lay around in the Skullship sick bay forever. But, at the same time, he also knew why he didn’t just leave already… But at least that part wasn’t complicated. He could even sum it up in one sentence:

Where did he go from here?

The sound of a door being kicked open made the shark-man flinch, his thoughts once again being pushed back to the back of his mind as he quickly found himself once again face-to-face with a very annoyed electrical skeleton-man and his even angrier eyeball commander.

“…Uhhh… S’up?”

“Don’t you ‘s’up’ us, mister!” Peepers snapped, “It’s time for you to go. _Now._ ”

Awesome blinked. “Wait, what? But, like, what did I even do?!”

“Nothing,” Hater replied as he crossed his boney arms, his voice having a slight growl to it, “But you’ve been here for pretty much four days already. You’ve had plenty of time to rest, you’re not on an IV anymore, and even your butler and bouncer guys are wondering why the heck you’re not on your own ship already!” Peepers nodded in agreement - and he was fairly sure that if Awesome didn’t return soon, his Fistfighters would start to think that this whole thing had turned into some hostage situation.

Awesome’s frown deepened. “Right, right… Yeah, I guess I should get out of here already. Tc’ch, the place was getting totes boring anyway…” With that, he swung his legs over the side of the bed and stood up, making sure to grab his crown (though he didn’t put it on his head) before slowly walking out of the room, with Hater and Peepers following.

Within only a couple minutes, the awkward silence started to annoy all of them, with Hater being the one to finally break it. “So uh, I guess you’ll be back to throwing parties and going clubbing and stuff, yeah?”

“Oh. Yeah. Guess so…” He thought of all the clubs he could go to, and felt a bitter taste in his mouth when he thought of all the bouncers and club DJs and fans who used to respect and obey him without question that would now probably just laugh in his face. And after his disaster of a ‘comeback’? He couldn’t even think about throwing another party…

“…Uh, you okay?” Hater asked, looking at him curiously, “I mean, not that I care if you are or not, but-”

The shark-man almost immediately straightened his posture and held his arms straight rather than keeping them close and folded like raptor arms. “Tc’ch, of course, dude! Like, why would I even- Like, yeah! Of course I’m okay! I’m totally awesome!”

Both Hater and Peepers rolled their eyes at his boasting (though it was hard for Awesome to tell whether or not they believed it). “Fine, whatever,” the skeletal lord mumbled as they continued to walk.

“Has your commander rounded up all your men yet?” Peepers asked, if only to get some valuable info.

Awesome blinked. “Huh? Wha-” He stopped, remembering the text he had gotten the morning after the party. Flex had sent the men on an indefinite shore leave, both to boost morale and to keep rumors from spreading across the ship about what was happening to their emperor. As for Flex himself, he and Handy stayed on the ship to keep everything in order, and so important things like cleaning the fresh water filters and feeding Awesome’s Tigrexes weren’t forgotten. “Oh yeah… Ah, yeah, I’m sure Flex took care of it. He’s always on top of that kind of stuff.”

“Mm,” was all Peepers said, giving another small nod. It wasn’t as if Awesome’s army was much of a threat to them anymore, but it was still always a good idea to know your enemies and their resources. 

“Hmph, yeah well, you could have all your guys with you and you still couldn’t take one of my new planets, so- so don’t even try!” Hater added, forcing a scowl. This time, it was Awesome who rolled his eyes. With the Villain Leaderboard list in shambles and the Galaxy still in the middle of repairing itself despite all the new yet wild planets, who honestly could think about conquering? 

‘Heck, I’m sure even Hatey and Peeps don’t even care much about it now,’ he thought to himself, allowing a small sigh to escape past his red painted lips. From what he had heard from the various grunts around the ship, planets were practically handed to the Hater Empire now. That’s what happens when an overlord becomes the Savior of the Galaxy, he supposed… 

Leaderboard or no leaderboard, Hater had made his way back on top and was only getting more and more popular and stronger by the day. Wander and Sylvia were probably still doing their little traveling and helping thing. The Galaxy was growing and healing, and all the people that had been homeless and all the victims of Do- of _her,_ were recovering. …All except for him. Where did all this leave him? What was he supposed to do with a destroyed rep, no power and practically no support? Where was he supposed to go? What was he going to do?

…As the trio finally reached the main hangar - already opened and with the familiar stretch limo sitting just a few feet outside the ship’s ‘mouth’ - a single thought hit Awesome like an asteroid to the face. …No, not just a thought, but a memory - a piece of advice from a certain Zbornak that he had gotten just a few nights ago:  _“-And hey, in the meantime, since your whole ‘party emperor’ thing is pretty much on hiatus for now, maybe you could take some time to work on yourself and your health instead of your reputation. I mean, it’s worth a shot, right?”_   Work on himself…

“Okay well, there it is,” Hater said, gesturing to the limo as if Awesome couldn’t see it, “Guess we’ll just, see you later or whatever. And, and don’t let me catch you on any on my planets, got that?! …But, don’t get yourself killed or anything stupid like that either. Just- Gahhh, just go already!”

“…” Awesome stood there, just staring at his ship. And, after nearly a full minute, he scowled, and turned to face Hater. 

“…Uhh, your ship is over there,” he said, pointing at it before giving a scowl of his own, “Come on, you’ve spent enough time being a freeloader here!”

“Maybe,” Awesome replied with a slight shrug, “But maybe not…”

“And just what is _that_ supposed to mean?!” Peepers asked, narrowing his eye. Awesome wasn’t threatened by it in the least.

“I’m sayin’, maybe I could use some more time here. Maybe I could even use a lot of things from this place…” Maybe it was stupid, and he was sure that it was going to be annoying. He glanced down at the commander for a moment. Yep, _definitely_ annoying. But, compared to all the other options, this one really did seem like the best, no matter how desperate he was. So, he gave one last sigh, and looked Hater straight in the eyes.

“I want to join the Hater Empire army.”

()()()()()()()()()()

It honestly hadn’t been too hard to convert one of the several ‘smooching rooms’ they had on the ship into a guest room. But, even if he had gone to bed at a decent hour, Awesome still found himself not being able to get much sleep - though this time, thankfully, it was because of curiosity and slight anxiousness rather than fear and nightmares.

“Still can’t even really believe they actually let me in,” the former emperor mumbled to himself as he brushed his teeth. He bent down to spit in the sink. “…Or that I actually asked in the first place.” Though, what was that old saying? Desperate times call for desperate measures? That had at least been part of his explanation… 

_“You can’t be serious!” Peepers practically screeched at him - Hater on the other hand was just still staring in shock - “I mean, you were one of our biggest enemies! Do you honestly think that we’ll let you not only continue living here, but that we’ll make you part of our army?! You, y-you’re not even a soldier! You’re just a-!”_

_“A failure?” Awesome stated, making the little commander finally shut up. “Tc’ch, or were you going to say something like ‘slacker’ or ‘obnoxious party animal’?” He held back another sigh, part of him wishing he hadn’t brought it up at all, but continued to keep his eyes on the two of them._

_“Look, lil’ man, I get it. You said it yourself, I was one of your biggest enemies. …Keyword being WAS. But now? Now I’ve got nothin’. And, well… Not only that but, along with losing stuff, I- I’m also sorta realizing that I’m kinda lacking a lot of stuff too. And-” For a moment, his eyes flashed back to his hardened lava prison, his body stiffening slightly. “…I, I-I know I can’t go back to how things used to be for me, at least not right now. I’ve got no planets, no real support, barely any power, and…” He glanced away for just a moment. “And, I doubt anyone in this galaxy thinks of me as cool now…”  
_

_Neither Hater nor Peepers said anything, but their expressions were more curious now than hostile, so Awesome took that as a good thing. “…But, even if I can’t still be an awesome partying emperor that everyone loves and wishes they could be, I- …Maybe I can still at least make it so that I’m not weak, or that I have some sort of power. A-At least a little power! So, like, so I can at least make sure that, t-that what happened to me to start all this never happens again.” Even if it was his fault… Even if he was an idiot for even trying to flirt with-!_

_“That’s understandable, and I suppose with our galactic standing and unmatched empire-strength, we **are** the best option for you,” Peepers said simply, though the sudden voice interrupting his already tense thoughts made the shark-man flinch slightly. However, when he saw how thoughtful Peepers was looking now, he instantly started to relax…_

It had been a bit of a hard sell, but in the end, Awesome managed to get what he wanted (a welcomed change of pace, considering how against him these last several months had felt). But even so, he didn’t let himself be completely happy over it. He still had to work, after all. ‘Hmph, and I’m sure that Peepsqueak has the hardest training plan in the universe all ready for me,’ he thought as he slipped on his blue tank-top. But whatever, he could totally take it! 

With that in mind, Awesome opened the door, walked into the hall - and nearly tripped over the small bundle of clothes in his way. “Huh?” He picked them up, and as he looked over the simple color scheme and felt the latex material, his mind quickly figured out what it was. “…Oh you’ve got to be flarpin’ kidding me.” Well, he did say he wanted to be part of the army. He just forgot that a totally lame uniform was part of the deal…

With a very, VERY reluctant groan, Awesome stepped back inside and changed into his new outfit. The latex wasn’t too bad, especially since he was used to tight clothes, but he absolutely hated the long sleeves. It felt like they were practically suffocating his large arm muscles! The red gloves weren’t too bad, but the little lightning bolt hat was pretty dorky. (How could anyone take any soldier with this hat on seriously?!) But the worst part of the uniform was definitely the totes unfashionable, small, _flat_ -heeled boots. Swallowing his pride for the second time in the past twenty four hours, he forced himself to put them on and walked back out the door towards the training room.

Originally he had thought that he was going to be trained by whoever the Skullship drill instructor was, or - if he was lucky - he would just be allowed to do his own thing alongside other Watchdogs in the ship’s gym. When he had mentioned this earlier though, Peepers had unsurprisingly insisted that he would train their new recruit himself - and sure enough, he was standing in the training room waiting and ready for him. Just another little ‘perk’ to being a soldier, but again, it didn’t matter. He wasn’t going to quit just because of some bossy nerd! As for Hater, he was just there to watch - both out of curiosity, and to make sure Awesome didn’t try anything. Honestly after their little throw-down on Flankar 5, Awesome couldn’t blame him for being protective. …Still, as he walked into the training room, his posture as straight as he could make it, he couldn’t help but wished that the skeletal lord hadn’t shown up.

“So… Enjoying the new uniform?” Peepers asked, clearly amused while Hater tried to hide his chuckles once he saw that, without the height boost from his heeled boots, Awesome only went up to the skeleton's chest instead of just slightly above his shoulders. 

Awesome growled slightly, but forced a toothy grin. “Well, it’s not _exactly_ my style but, I can think of ONE good thing about it-” He turned around and struck a pose, jutting his hips out. “The material DOES highlight my best feature~” Both of Hater and Peepers’ amused looks immediately turned to ones of disgust. “Though it could definitely use more color, not gonna lie. And I’m definitely gonna have to cute these sleeves off later-”

“Oh no, absolutely not!” Peepers snapped, “It’s a uniform, remember! And you can’t alter a uniform, no matter how ‘unfashionable’ it may seem!”

Awesome groaned. “Ugh, fine. Whatevs.”

“Good. …And speaking of uniformity, no make-up is allowed either.

The shark-man recruit could only gape at him when he heard that. “Wait, seriously?! Dude, come on!” 

“Hey, it’s not that big of a deal,” Hater shrugged, “It’s not like you’re on a date or at a party or something! And who wears make-up when they’re training anyway?”

“AND, it’s not only distracting, but it can be dangerous on the battlefield if you’re sweating and make-up gets in your eye!” Peepers explained with a glare as he handed him a towel, “Now take it off.”

“Grrrr, fine!” Awesome snatched the towel from him, mumbling a few insults under his breath as he started to wipe off his face.

“Hmph. Thank you, Private _Herschel_.” Awesome immediately froze. …He knew he shouldn’t had put his birth name on his paperwork, no matter what Peepers had said.

“Dude, not- Just, call me Awesome, alright?” he asked, lowering his towel slightly.

“We’ll see,” Peepers replied coolly, not even looking at him. 

Awesome squeezed the towel in his hand. “Come on, man- …Peepers, please.”

“…” Peepers glanced back at him. “…Alright, fine. Private Awesome. There, now hurry up so we can get started already.” Satisfied, Awesome continued, making sure to get every last bit of make-up off him. It felt weird being without it, but he didn’t let it show.

As soon as the shark lowered the towel for the second time, Hater blinked. “…Wait, so your lips aren’t normally red?”

The other two just ignored him. “Now, “ Peepers started to say, “since you already seem physically fit-” Awesome resisted the urge to flex, but he did grin a bit- “I’ve decided that we can probably skip the warm-ups. As for exercises that help increase strength and muscle mass, you can do those on your own later. For now, let’s work on skills that you’ll be using on a mission or battlefield.”

“A’ight, cool. So-” Before he could even ask what he would be doing first, Peepers took out his spare blaster and handed it to Awesome. “…Ah. Got it.” 

“You do know how to use a blaster, right?” Peepers asked, raising a brow.

Awesome just rolled his eyes. “Dude, it’s a blaster, it’s not rocket science.” Sure, he didn’t really use weapons unless his huge speakers could be counted as one, and the weapons he did have a little experience with were things like knifes and the occasional trident, but come on! “All you have to do is squeeze and shoot! Totes got this.” 

The commander on the other hand didn’t look too impressed, but decided not to say anything as he pressed a button on his tablet and brought down several targets. He also made sure to back away, not wanting to be too close to the laser fire, while Hater took a seat in the back of the room to get the best view (and to be able to eat his bag of popcorn freely without being asked to share it).

“Alright,” Peepers started to say as Awesome lifted his blaster, “Just start whenever you’re-”

 _*PEW!*_ Awesome fired and- …Well, he didn’t completely miss, but his shot did hit the outer edge of the target rather than the center. “…Eh, just a warm-up shot!” Awesome told them with a small wave of his hand.

“Yeah right,” he heard Hater mumble, though Awesome decided to ignore for now. The best way to get someone to shut up is to show them you’ve got the skills, after all. So, he took aim at the target again, and-

“Try using both hands,” Peepers suggested.

Awesome rolled his eyes. “Dude, I don’t need two hands to hold a blaster.”

“Well then at least hold it upright!” the commander retorted, “Holding it sideways doesn’t make you look cool!”

“Grrrr…” Adjusting his blaster first, Awesome then fired another shot. Again, it only hit the upper outer ring of the target. “Ugh, come ON!” He tried to fire again, but this time nothing even came out. “Huh?”

“See, now you’ve jammed it,” Peepers told him with a scoff, “Hold on, I’ll-”

“No, I’LL get it,” the recruit insisted, already pulling his weapon back and lightly hitting the side of it, “Just gotta, erg, pop loose whatever’s-” *PEW!* As soon as the blast was released, Awesome yelped and jumped back a bit. Unfortunately, the surprise of the blast also made his grip on the weapon loosen, and despite trying to catch it in time, the blaster still managed to slip out of his hand and hit the floor, causing it to fire yet another blast.

“EEP!” Ducking down, Peepers just narrowly managed to dodge both beams, which then proceeded to bounce around the room a couple times before hitting a wall and dissipating. Once the danger was over, he immediately turned his attention (and his anger) back to Awesome. “Grrr, see! _This_ is what happens when you don’t listen to orders!”

Of course, Awesome just glared right back at him. “It was an accident! Not like I was actually aiming at you!” Though at this point, he was certainly thinking about it. “Besides, it’s not my fault your blasters are janky!”

“They’re not janky!” Peepers argued as he marched towards the shark, “You just don’t know how to use them properly! If you did, it wouldn’t have gotten jammed! Ugh, it’s obvious you don’t know a thing about firearms!”

“Well then, how ‘bout you actually teach me something about them, nerd?” Awesome retorted, too annoyed and angry now to care about trying to be polite.

“Well I WOULD, but I doubt you would even listen!” the commander snapped back, “And honestly, that big head of yours is already so swollen thanks to your massive ego, I doubt you could learn anything!”

Awesome barred his teeth. So now this little punk was calling him stupid?! Okay, that was it. It was so, SO on! Without any sort of warning, Awesome gave Peepers a hard shove back. Not only did it knock him down to the floor, but it also pushed him a couple feet back - and probably left a bruise or two on his chest.

“HEY!” The shark froze, and as he slowly turned to look at the now-angry skeleton man, an eerie bright green light started to spread out across the room. 

“…Uh oh.” Maybe lightning wasn’t quite as bad as lava, but it could still hurt. A LOT.

His popcorn bag now crumpled and on the floor, Hater stepped forward, raised his arms and- “Wait.” The light disappeared, and both of them immediately turned to look at Peepers, who was already getting off the floor, one of his hands raised high, signalling to his lord that he was alright. However, just because he had taken the first hit, didn’t make him any less capable…

Narrowing his eye a bit, Peepers crossed his arms. “Alright, Private Awesome. Obviously you’re going to need a lot more pre-training and studying before you can use a firearm. But until then… Let’s focus on your hand-to-hand combat, hmm? A simple spar, perhaps?”

“…Wait, what?” Awesome blinked. (For a moment, it nearly sounded like an echo, since Hater had the exact same reaction.) Peepers said nothing, and continued to look completely serious. “Uhhh, Peeps? I get you’re supposed to be my drill instructor now and stuff but, don’t you remember the last time we threw down?”

The little commander’s fists tightened, but his expression didn’t change. “This time it’s different. Last time, you caught me off guard and stopped me from moving before I even had a chance to fight back. …I can promise you, that _won’t_ happen this time.”

Well, Peepers WAS offering him a fight… And after all the grief the little punk had put him through - the insults, the disrespect, stealing away his party guests - there was just no way Awesome could refuse!

“Alright then, you’ve got it, Peepsqueak,” the shark said with a nod, getting into a fighting pose, “Just don’t be all whiny when you get hit, alright?”

“Don’t worry, I won’t,” Peepers replied, putting his arms at his side. Hater’s shock slowly started to fade, and as he looked at his commander, a small grin started to form - only faltering when he realized he was all out of popcorn now. But maybe that was a moot point; He had a feeling this spar wouldn’t last long.

“Okay… You ready?” Awesome asked, and as soon as he saw the commander nod, he ran forward and threw down a fist.

Immediately, Peepers jumped up, and not only did he avoid Awesome’s fist, but he also now had the perfect attack spot. So, deciding to give an attack of his own, he threw his own fist forward and punched Awesome right in the snout.

Awesome cried out, stumbling back while Peepers stuck his landing. However, while he did take a couple moments to rub his nose, the attack didn’t seem to slow him down any. “Tc’ch, did you _really_ think that because I’m part-shark, I’d be knocked out by that?” he growled.

“No,” Peepers glared, “But I’ve got a few more attacks that will!” 

Awesome scoffed. Yeah right! There was no way this little nerd was going to knock him out! Running forward again, Awesome tried again and again to try to hit and kick him, and while he did succeed a couple times, most of the time Peepers was quick enough and skilled enough to dodge. 

Then again, Awesome was pretty good at dodging too. His dancer legs and natural fluidity made it very easy to dodge more hits from Peepers’ fists or scratches from his helmet. However, he still lacked a bit in speed, which meant he ended up taking a couple more hits than Peepers did. Still, neither one of them was going to give up yet!

Barring his teeth again, the shark-man tried his hardest to increase the strength and speed of his punches. “You-! Are-! So-! Going-! DOWN!” Peepers winced slightly, catching a couple of his punches, but still managing to dodge a few of them too. However, based on the stage of their fight and with how ferociously Awesome was fighting, he knew it was time to shift into a new strategy.

So, he started actually blocking hits instead of dodging. Sure, it was a bit painful, but Peepers could take it - the Zbornak had certainly given him worst hits than these. Besides, being in such close proximity now with Awesome meant that it was a bit easier for Peepers to throw more punches as well.

Hater leaned forward, gripping his cloak as he watched in excitement. It was about as exciting as one of his fighting games, and followed about the same pattern too: Punch, punch, kick, dodge, block, punch, block- Of course, neither Peepers nor Awesome had any magic or power moves. However, he still had a feeling his commander still had one ‘finishing move’ up his sleeve. “Come on, C. Peeps!” he said as quietly as he could so that he didn’t distract him, “Take him out!”

The shark-man was starting to slow down a bit - both he and his opponent could see that. “Ugh,” he scowled. Lousy stamina… Why was that always such an issue for him?! Whatever, it didn’t mater - or rather, it _wouldn’t_ matter once he finally took this nerd out! And as he dodged two more tiny fists, Awesome decided to end their spar once and for all! 

So, first he swung his leg across, knocking Peepers off-balance a bit. Perfect. Then, as soon as he saw that big Watchdog eye look up at him, Awesome threw his fist down without any hesitation.

…And that was just what Peepers was hoping for. 

Taking just a split second to re-balance himself, Peepers moved his head and brought up one arm, taking the attack and blocking his eye from it. However, that was just step one… Before Awesome could try to pull his fist back and try again, Peepers’ other arm reached up and grabbed his wrist. Once he had a good grip, he grabbed the wrist with his other hand, bent his knees, and-

 _ ***WHAM!***_ Before he even knew what was happening, Awesome was on the floor, flat on his back and eyes wide. Over in the back somewhere he could hear Hater cheering, but he barely acknowledged that. Honestly, there was only one thought running through his mind at that moment:

_What… The **flarp** … Just **happened?!**_

“…Well, I guess that’s the end of that spar,” Peepers said, his tone clearly stating that he wasn’t in the mood for a rematch anytime soon. However, as he rubbed at his arm a bit and started to turn away-

“WAIT!” He stopped, and turned back to the shark. “I, I can’t-! I can’t even-! Like, dude! how did you do that?!” Awesome asked, practically shouted - though his expression was more of shock and disbelief rather than actual anger, “Like, how were you able to flip me like that?! You’re, like, only two and a half feet tall and only like seventy pounds, at the most!”

“Yes well, height and weight aren’t _everything,_ ” Peepers replied, rolling his eye slightly and crossing his arms once more, “Of course, they certainly help. But, with enough training and strategy, you can ideally take on _any_ opponent. …Now, you may not always win… Especially if you’re dealing with an unpredictable variable like weapons or magic where you may end up with a disadvantage, but you’ll at least stand a decent chance at winning.”

“…Seriously?” Awesome blinked, a flash of hope in his eyes. Peepers nodded.

“Yeah, and Peepers is like, the best fighter here,” Hater added, “Better than all the other Watchdogs! He can even fight Sylvia and not get totally beaten up anymore! …Well, he still gets beat up _sometimes_ but-” “Ugh, Sir…” “What?! I said you fight about as good as Sylvia! It’s a compliment!”

“Geez…” Awesome mumbled, sitting up now, “You’re actually able to go toe-to-toe with Sylvia?”

“Uh huh,” the commander nodded again, trying not to show TOO much pride in this little fact.

“Wow… That’s- …That’s actually kinda cool.” As soon as he said that, Awesome stiffened. Ugh, did he seriously just call the Peepsqueak nerd cool? Luckily for him, Peepers didn’t say anything in reply to that, mostly because he was just as shocked by his words as the shark-man was.

“So, uh… I guess we can call it a day for now. You still have assigned duties to take care of, not to mention personal training and-”

“Wait, we’re… We’re still doing this?” Awesome asked.

Peepers raised a brow at him. “What? You thought losing that spar would result in me forcing you out of the army?”

“…Well, yeah. Kinda.” That and all the stuff that had happened before the spar seemed like it would give the commander plenty of argument material to get him off the ship for good.

“Hmph, well, lucky for you, I don’t quit that easily,” Peepers told him, “You still want to learn how to defend yourself and get stronger, right?” “…Yeah.” “Then I can at least try to assist you in achieving that goal for the first week - after that if I don’t see any improvement, _then_ I’ll know it’s a lost cause.”

Awesome gave him a bit of a look for that comment, but Peepers ignored it and continued. “…Besides, you do show a bit of potential. You already know how to throw a punch without breaking your hand, and you’re above average at dodging, but someone still has to teach you how to fight properly.”

“Hey, come on, I can fight!” Awesome lightly argued. Maybe he had lost their spar, but he wasn’t going to get insulted again.

“Were you actually _taught?_ ” Peepers asked suspiciously.

“Yeah!” “By who?” “By a bunch of these movies and tapes I got a while back, and-” Peepers shook his head. Wrong, definitely wrong - though he’d figured as such.

Awesome scowled again. “Oh don’t give me that! I always learn best by watching! I see how it's done, and then I do it myself - and I do it awesomely! It’s how first learned to dance, by watchin' my old Teach or old performances from other dancers, and-!”

“And that’s fine,” Peepers interrupted - and for once, he didn’t sound too condescending about it. “The problem isn’t that you learn visually, it’s that you have the wrong visual teachers. And I can assure you, there are MUCH better fighting teachers out there than overzealous self-help hosts and CGI-covered action movie stuntmen.”

Awesome growled a bit but, he supposed the nerd did have a point. “Fine, fair enough…” Besides, if he could actually learn how to fight like Peepers and Sylvia did - if he could learn to be strong and skilled enough to take on opponents twice his side?! …He had to admit, gaining all that was actually worth being forced to listen to an annoying nerd for however long it took to get those skills.

“Good… I’m sure I can get you the proper teaching visuals and routines for fighting if you really are serious about all this-” “Trust me, dude, I am.” “-Well then, that’s what I’ll do. But until then, like I said, what _you_ can do is your assigned ship duties, Private Awesome.”

“Right, right,” Awesome nodded as he stood up. However, as soon as he was on his feet, he paused. “…And, just what are these ‘assigned duties’?”

“Oh, mostly cleaning and whatever other chore that needs to be done and hasn’t already been assigned yet,” Peepers replied.

“Oh, and the new recruits are always the ones who get stuck with cleaning Captain Tim’s litter box, just so you know,” Hater added. The shark-man groaned, but he forced himself not to argue and complain. It sucked, but he wasn’t going to be a quitter. …Not until he picked up some sweet fighting moves and got some of his rep back, at least.

So, pulling on his sleeves a bit, Awesome told the two of them that he would see them later before reluctantly heading towards the nearest janitorial closet.

“…Soooo, how long do you think he’s gonna last?” Hater asked as soon as the shark was out of earshot.

But Peepers could only shrug. “Who knows, Sir? Who knows…” Honestly, he had figured that once he had beaten Awesome in a fight, the ‘recruit’ would either tell him to flarp off and walk away, or would try and get revenge and try to throw a cheap shot at Peepers (most likely getting himself electrocuted in the process). But obviously, that wasn’t what happened…

Not only did Awesome want to stay and continue training, but he was actually willing to do chores and actual work in order to receive that training?! Coming from a spoiled brat like him, it was definitely all a surprise to Peepers. …Still, the commander wasn’t willing to fully trust him just yet. He could easily just quit the next time something didn’t go his way or if the training was too hard, or maybe he was planning on trying to stab them in the back as soon as he got the necessary power and skills to do so, no matter how genuine he may have seemed earlier. 

So, Peepers at least was going to keep an eye on him. …Honestly though, he was used to keeping an eye on his soldiers, making sure they were being competent and not screwing anything up. Ignoring the fact that the shark-man stood out among the other Watchdogs like a sore thumb (even with his proper uniform on), maybe it actually wouldn’t be too different than how things already were now.

“I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.”


	2. Chapter 2

_*Beep beep beep beep-!*_

The shark-man groaned, rolling over. Flarping alarm clock… Reaching out, he hit it a couple times before finally getting it to turn off. “Ugh… I don’t care what Peeps says, we can be just as ‘effective’ without having to wake up hecka early every day.” But knowing from experience that trying to sleep in would just give Peepers an excuse to come in and screech at him some more until he did get up, Awesome forced himself out of bed and started getting ready.

It was hard for him to believe that he had only been part of the Skullship army for nearly three weeks. Because honestly… it seemed like it had been much, _much_ longer than that. Sure, the first couple days weren’t too bad, but after a while between all the training and working and training and cleaning and training- well, it just all started to run together. And unfortunately, as it turned out, Watchdogs only got one day off each week. 

The first time he got a day off, Awesome spent most of it sleeping before spending the rest of it just hanging out with random Watchdogs he found (not quite as cool as the people he used to hang out with, but still not totally lame at least). The second time he got one, he decided to use it to visit his old ship for a few hours, feeling more than happy to see Flex and Handy and his pets again for a bit (and being absolutely thrilled to have a day where he didn’t have to wear an annoying uniform).

“So how much longer do you think you’re gonna stay there?” Flex had asked him as Handy poured glasses of Thunderblazz for all of them. He didn’t sound frustrated or annoyed when he had asked this, just curious. Honestly, given how weird the situation was, Awesome couldn’t really blame his bro for feeling that way, but even so- 

“I guess, I’ll stay as long as I need to,” he had answered before taking a long sip of his drink. He had picked up a couple new skills, but he still didn’t really feel all that stronger. He still hadn’t checked any of his social media pages, and he was still occasionally having nightmares… But, even without the huge improvements, Awesome still figured it was still the best choice he had at the moment. So, the former emperor just put on a huge grin, boasted that he was one of the best new recruits there, and made it seem like everything was cool. 

…Even thinking back on it, he wasn’t completely sure if Handy or Flex really believed it, but they didn’t say anything to argue against it. At the very least, they were still able to have a nice hang-out session…

“Maybe by the time I see them again I’ll actually feel like this is all worth it,” he mumbled as he put on his Watchdog cap. Once he had his boots on, he walked out the door and headed towards the food court for a quick before-training breakfast. As he walked, Awesome still couldn’t help but purse his lips a bit, frowning. 

He still wasn’t used to not wearing make-up.

()()()()()()()()()()()()

Peepers silently watched as Awesome fired his blaster. All but two of the targets were hit, though out of those that were hit, the shots didn’t land anywhere near the center. The commander held back an annoyed sigh. Well… At least he wasn’t jamming his blaster anymore.

“Ugh…” The shark-man caught his look and scowled. Despite the lack of comments (which he was definitely thankful for), he could still tell exactly what the little shrimp was thinking. “I’m trying, alright? And you know, most of your guys have pretty sucky aim too!”

“Yes, but at least they have a depth-perception excuse,” Peepers dryly retorted, “And they still manage to have decent aim with that. Even Westley, may he rest in peace, could still hit a target center every couple shots.”

“Yeah well- Wait. Who’s-?”

“Not important.” Peepers took a moment to rub his eye, though he tried not to let his annoyance show too much. At least their new recruit wasn’t terrible at everything. “How about we just move on and you practice this later, alright?”

“Fine,” Awesome mumbled, putting his blaster back in its holster. By this point, he already had their little routine memorized: A bit of warm-up, target practice followed by a lecture about whatever strategy or training thing Peepers wanted to nag him about that day, then physical/combat training, then finally Awesome would be allowed to go to the ship’s gym and workout there with the other Watchdogs until lunch. “Man… Don’t you ever think about mixin’ things up a little around here, Peeps?”

The commander rolled his eye a bit. “The key to success is consistency and repeatedly applying and improving the skills that you are learning.”

“…So in other words, no?” Awesome asked, crossing his arms - and earning a scowl from his trainer.

“If I feel like it’s beneficial to change up your regimen, then I will,” Peepers argued, “But until then: Stop complaining. After all, _you’re_ the one who wanted to learn from me.”

Showing his teeth just a little, Awesome scowled back at him as his body shifted into a starting position. He paused for just a moment, wanting to make sure to start his first move on the right foot, before continuing the conversation. “Uh, f-y-info, eyesore, I didn’t want to specifically train with you. I just wanted to get stronger.”

“And become more skilled at defending yourself,” Peepers added, “Which is what I’m trying to help you with, Private Awesome, if you would just _listen_.”

A growl escaped from his throat, but Awesome still refused to interrupt himself. Instead, he just put his anger and energy into his moves, with each punch or kick at the air being just a bit more ferocious than the last.

Peepers gave a small hum. …As it turns out, maybe Awesome was actually listening to him. His fighting style was certainly looking a lot more diligent and skillful than the punches he had been seeing from the shark a couple weeks ago, not to mention the fact that Awesome still had the advantage of being light on his feet and being naturally fluid in his motions. A dancer through and through (despite Peepers' refusal for allowing music to be turned on during their training). Perfect for dodging, and perhaps with enough of a balance between firmness and fluidity, his own punches had a chance of becoming not only powerful, but _un-dodgeable_. 

…But of course, Peepers didn’t mention any of this out loud. It wasn’t his job to compliment the soldiers (there was only one person on this ship that he was willing to give compliment and praise to, besides himself), it was to make sure they knew how to properly defend and fight. He was there to give criticism, not be their friend, and he wasn’t going to treat Awesome any differently, no matter how unique his situation was. With that in mind, he started to focus on giving comments that really mattered: “Spread your legs just a little wider. You won’t be constantly dodging, so you still need some sort of structure and balance to keep your hits strong. Straighten your arms, and tighten your fists a bit more. Remember your posture. And don’t try to be impressive, just focus on beating your opponent!”

Awesome gave another growl. He had taken enough dance classes in his youth to be used to the idea of getting constructive criticism (even if it did still annoy him). But this? This was just-! “Firmer movement! Make each strike count! But don’t stall! Always keep-!”

“Ugh, I’ve _got it_ , dude, alright?!” the recruit retorted as he swung his leg up and swept through the air, “Just cause I’m forced to listen to you don’t mean that you aren’t allowed to shut up!”

“…” Narrowing his eye, Peepers suddenly leapt up and tried to launch an attack. Awesome yelped in surprise, but just barely managed to block the tiny-yet-strong foot from hitting his nose. (Why did he ALWAYS have to go for the nose?!) “And that,” Peepers snapped as he easily landed on his feet, “is why I have to keep talking! Because as much as you’ve learned, you still have a lot to remember AND a long way to go!”

At that point, Awesome didn’t even try to hide his glares or his sharp teeth. “You have _got_ to be-! That little stunt there was about on the same level as a sucker punch and you know it!”

“The enemy isn’t going to wait until you’re prepared to attack!” Peepers countered as he took a step forward, though he still managing to keep his feet on the ground and his fists at his side.

“Fine, whatever, but somethin’ like that doesn’t give you the right to just keep talking smack and making it sound like I haven’t learned anything!” Awesome yelled back, “or to keep to nag me on stuff that I’m already practicing on!”

Peepers scoffed, crossing his arms. “I’m not going to shower you with compliments just for doing the basics! What I AM here for, is to teach you and correct you when you aren’t doing it right!”

Awesome squeezed his fists. If _this_ was what he was going to have to deal with for grop knows how long, then maybe it wasn’t actually worth it. Maybe he was better off just feeling weak or just doing things his own way again and not caring how bad they might turn out. “Alright, you know what, Cyclops? How about you just take your ‘teachings’ and shove them up your-!”

 _*Riiiiing!*_ Both of them blinked, their anger and frustration momentarily being replaced by surprise. “Ugh, hello?” Peepers said, answering his communicator. He listened for a minute or so, occasionally nodding and slowly beginning to look thoughtful. When he finally hung up, he looked back at Awesome. “Alright. You, come with me.”

“Huh? Why?”

“Well first off, because I said so,” Peepers stated, earning another small glare from the shark, “And second: You said that you wanted to prove that you’ve ‘got this’? Well then, I may just have an opportunity for you to do so…” With that, Peepers started to walk away. And, now totally curious about that claim, Awesome really had no choice but to follow him.

Despite having such short legs, Peepers made up for it by having such a quick pace, and Awesome just barely managed to keep up with him as they walked down towards the upper level of the ship, towards its ‘eyes’. 

“Alright, now what was this about a thre-” The commander finally stopped. He had expected there to be other people in the room, of course. There was the Watchdog that called him, his small team, the ship pilots that were on duty at the moment, and- “Sir?”

Hater looked away from the grunt. “Yeah?” 

“You’re here too?” “…Yeah?” “You, you came to check out an issue?”

“Well yeah!” Hater shouted, throwing his arms up a bit, “Duh! I’m in charge, why wouldn’t I be here when there’s a problem?”

“Ah, well-” Peepers paused again before shaking off his surprise and nodding. “Right. Yes, of course.”

“These guys just better hope it actually is a problem though. I was right in the middle of my game,” the skeletal lord mumbled, causing Peepers to roll his eye a bit. At least things weren’t _completely_ different. “So, you guys were gathering resources like we told you to, and you started getting chased by something?” he asked, turning back to the grunt in question.

“Well, before that we felt slight tremors on the planet,” the Watchdog answered, his tiny crew nodding behind him, “We also found instances of disrupted and destroyed flora that obviously wasn’t man-made. But it wasn’t until we reached the cave-”

“The cave that leads to where all that planet’s plasma and ore is supposed to be?” Hater and Peepers asked in unison - and again, Peepers couldn’t help but be a bit shocked, though it was ignored by everyone else.

“Yes. It wasn’t until then that we came across the creature - medium sized, and looking decently strong - so it’s most likely its home,” the Watchdog reported, “And because we weren’t sure how much effect our standard blasters would have on it, we decided to retreat and get your guys’ opinion on the matter.”

“Hmm, well, we still need to retrieve those resources, that’s for sure,” Peepers told them.

“Then I’ll just go down and fight whatever this thing is,” Hater suggested as he crossed his arms, looking both unbothered yet still unimpressed, “Or at the very least hold it back long enough for some Watchdogs to grab some of the ore and plasma.”

“…Ah, well, that’s a good idea, Sir-” A very good idea, in fact. “But, I sort of had another idea in mind…” Peepers turned back to Awesome, who had really only been half paying attention to the conversation. Once he had all eyes on him however, he quickly realized that _this_ was what the commander had brought him there for - and honestly, he wasn’t sure whether to be excited or terrified.

So, he decided to just say, “Man… Taking it easy on newbs isn’t really a thing for you, is it Peeps?”

“Not when they complain about my training, Private.”

As the Skullship flew towards the orange-brown planet, Awesome was quickly equipped with a net that could become electrified with the simple push of a button, a new communicator, a basic map to the cave, and a level 3 blaster. Since he had only ever trained with a level 1 blaster (which he still had on him as a back-up), he had to be quickly taught how to use it, but thankfully it was pretty much the same thing as the smaller blaster. He just had to prepare for a bit more of a kick. 

“Maybe you won’t have to use much of your combat skills on this mission,” Peepers told him as they headed towards the main hangar, “But it will test your instincts, mission and survival skills, and we’ll be able to see how you handle things under pressure.”

“So you _aren’t_ just assigning this mission to me just for a bit of revenge?” Awesome asked, managing to keep the small amount of nerves he was feeling out of his voice. 

“Oh I am,” Peepers replied simply, not even glancing up at him, “But like I said, you asked for it.”

Awesome scoffed. “Actually bro, I’m pretty sure I just asked for some variety in my training, and for you to stop nagging me for every flarping second of our sess.”

“Well, maybe if you complete this mission successfully, I’ll think about adjusting your regimen.”

“Wowww, you are just _such_ a nice guy!” 

“We’re villains, we’re not supposed to be nice. Deal with it.”

“Whatevs.” The doors opened, and they stepped out into the ‘mouth’ of the ship. The long tongue was already unrolled. Peepers started to give him a recap of the plan, but he didn’t even get the chance to finish it before Awesome started strolling down the tongue. Feeling a glare now burning into him, the recruit just casually looked over his shoulder and insisted, “Don’t worry dude, I got this.”

“Hmph. We’ll see…” Peepers mumbled, watching him until he was out of sight. 

Almost immediately after stepping onto the planet, Awesome could feel the dry air. It wasn’t completely horrible, considering there was no humidity and his uniform protected pretty much all of his skin, but dealing with dry air was still pretty sucky for a shark-man. But, not wanting to give his commander any reason to say “I told you so”, Awesome kept his mouth shut and walked forward.

“Alright, let’s see…” Getting out his map, he looked over it before briefly glancing around, “Pretty much just have to keep walking straight then. Right through the forest. …Geez, how the flarp does anything even grow here?”

“It’s called adaption,” Peepers answered, “Duh. How else would _you_ be able to survive on land, or still be able to hear for that matter after all those ridiculous parties you’ve thrown?”

“…Uh, you know he can’t hear you, right?” Hater asked, looking over Peepers’ shoulder, “Or he can, it’s just, you’re not holding the com. button so-”

“Yes Sir, I know,” Peepers replied, sighing slightly as he continued to stare at the monitor. They couldn’t actually see Awesome, but they could at least see where he was going and how close the creature was to him thanks to their radar, while the communicator Awesome was carrying provided them with audio. It wasn’t much, but it was enough for them to use to stop the inexperienced recruit from screwing up if they needed to…

After several minutes of walking - and of crawling under broken trees and slightly shredded, wilted giant leaves - Awesome finally made it to the cave.  _“It should be right inside,”_ he heard a nasally voice from his hip announce,  _“If you don’t see it, wait for it to come to you. It’d be a major hindrance to-_ ”

Growling, Awesome reached down and pressed the reply button on the communicator. “Seriously dude, what part of ‘I’ve got this’ do you not get?!” Sure, maybe he wasn’t a nerd like him or super powerful like Hatey, but he wasn’t an idiot! And he was getting stronger, no matter what Peepers did or didn’t say. He could do this… He could totally do this!

With that, Awesome pulled out his net, and walked inside the cave, his communicator now totally silent. And sure enough, within a couple minutes, he heard the creature stomping towards them. It was strange though - hadn’t those other Watchdogs said something about the ground shaking when it walked? He smirked a bit, figuring that it probably would’ve felt like shaking to guys that were so short.

…But then again, as the creature continued to walk out of the shadows and become clearer, he admitted to himself that _maaaybe_ he didn’t have that big of an advantage. The thing was at least two feet taller than him, with a broad build, amber-colored skin, and four glaring eyes. Pretty intimidating, though he had certainly faced worse.

“Alright-” He crouched down slightly and got his net at the ready, “Come at me, bro!”

The four-eyed creature stomped his feet a few times before running right at Awesome. As soon as it got close enough, Awesome jumped out of the way - turning in mid-air so that his back wasn’t facing the creature for too long. Seeing that it missed its target, the creature growled and spun around, swing a beefy hand at the recruit. 

Thankfully, Awesome had enough speed to dodge that attack as well. Unfortunately for him though, it only seemed to make the monster angrier. More attacks came one after another, and a couple of them even managed to hit their mark. At least the uniform’s material was strong enough to keep from ripping, which prevented him from getting any scratches or scars, but he had a feeling he would still be walking away with a few bruises. ‘Nothing I can’t handle,’ he silently told himself as he continued to dodge. He couldn’t keep fighting this thing one-on-one, eventually he would get tired. But he did still have a couple advantages, he just needed the perfect moment to use them - and Awesome quickly decided that it was about time he made one. 

So, after dodging one last swipe, Awesome pulled back his arm and crouched down slightly before leaping up as high as he could and managing to hit the creature right between the eyes. The monster roared in anger, but Awesome didn’t let it distract him. He just quickly backed up, activated the electricity on his net, and tossed it over the creature’s head. More roars came from it, though the electricity was having a decent effect. Within a minute or so, it laid down, still growling and struggling under the net somewhat, but otherwise defeated.

Awesome couldn’t help but give a toothy grin. “Heh, sorry about that, bro,” he told the creature as he strolled around it, his arms now behind his head, “But I had a mission to complete-” He then added with a bit of a mumble, “And an annoying commander to prove wrong- and I totally owned it! But don’t worry, once the Watchdogs come here and get whatever’s in this cave, I’m sure I’ll be able to let you go. Just don’t be messin’ with me again, ya got-?”

He paused, his words faltering slightly as he felt… something.

 _“Ahem! If you’re done bragging, you can come back to the ship,_ ” He heard Peepers start to tell him through the communicator, _“We shouldn’t need you for anything else on this planet, so it’s probably best that you stay out of the way while the others work - unless you want to guard that thing for the rest of the day. Which- …Huh, which honestly wouldn’t seem like too bad of an idea, actually.”_

“Uh, yeah,” Awesome replied, brow furrowing a bit. Realizing he hadn’t even pressed the call button, he reached down and repeated his reply. “Yeah, sure thing…” As he let go of the button and started putting communicator back in his pocket, he felt it again. A shaking feeling, and this one much stronger than the last. The creature under the net let out another loud roar.

…And somewhere deep in the cave, under the planet’s surface, a response roar was heard. Awesome’s eyes slowly widened. 

“…Oh flarp.”

No sooner had he taken a _single step_ back did the ground start shaking again - with this time nearly causing him to lose his balance. He could hear Peepers’ voice again. Something about radar or detection? Whatever the eyeball was trying to tell him, Awesome decided that at the moment, he really wasn’t too concerned. He had much bigger things to worry about! 

 _Much_ bigger in fact, for when the second monster made its appearance, it had needed to crouch down under the cave entrance (and even then its fat head still brushed against the top of the rocky entryway) before being able to stand to its full height. At least twice the height of the first creature, maybe even three times! And speaking of the first creature- Once the huge monster left the cave, it stomped over to its trapped companion and flung the net off it with ease, not even wincing at the electricity!

Awesome gulped. “…Yep, definitely time to bail!” He quickly tried again to run away, but only managed to run a few feet before he heard the monster’s roar and felt the ground wobble underneath him. A hand that was nearly half the size of his head knocked him completely off his feet and skidding across the planet’s surface. It hurt, but it thankfully wasn’t enough to keep the shark-man down for long - especially once he realized that there was no way the monster was gonna stop at just one hit. Not after what he did to his buddy. 

So he got up again, just narrowly missing another hit as he ran back towards the trees. …Maybe not the smartest idea, since crawling under and squeezing past a lot of them before had taken quite a bit of time, but at least it gave him some cover. Loud growls and the sounds of trees being crushed behind him were more than enough to make him duck behind the first great hiding spot he found.

“Grop… Gropgropgrop,” he mumbled as he crouched down, gritting his teeth a bit. Not the scariest thing in the Galaxy (far from it), but he still knew for sure that it could seriously mess him up if it got a hold of him. He had to get out of there! “Okay, okay… Just gotta, like, watch for an opening or, or wait for it to, like, get distracted or whatevs, then I can make a run for it. Just gotta get to the Skullship, alright? Just got get-” 

Awesome paused. The Skullship… If he ran, the monster would most likely be skilled enough to track him, just to continue the chase. So if he ran, Awesome would be leading it right to the Skullship…

Of course, the large ship had more than enough power and weapons to take out one creature, even if it was one of this size. But that wasn’t the issue… “This is supposed to be _my_ mission, isn’t it?” Awesome mumbled to himself. His big chance to prove to Peepers - to prove to himself - that he was getting stronger? That he was getting _better?_ He had certainly come into the mission with plenty of confidence and determination. But now… Now he was just running again. Now he was back to being weak, being totally outmatched and hiding and needing someone else to fight the enemy and save the day because he wasn’t nearly as good as he thought he was. Back to being powerless, to being easily defeated, being _trapped_. 

His body started to tingle and burn slightly, but he quickly shook it off. “C-Come on, dude. Don’t- J-Just focus, alright? You can-!” …Or, maybe he can’t. Maybe he was just overly confident and in way over his head. But did that really give him enough reason to just lie down and take it? To just give up and not even try? “I can at least try!” He gritted his teeth. “I can at least stop being such a flarping coward!” 

If he had to actually go head-to-head with a monster to try and complete his mission - to actually win on his own merit, which was something that hadn’t happened in months - then fine! And if he got hurt during it, then fine! Battle scars were certainly better than other kinds of injuries… But still, he couldn’t fight it head-on. He wasn’t nearly that physically strong. So what-?

Awesome gave a slight gasp as it hit him. Of course! Grinning a bit, he grabbed his blaster, and-

 ** _*CRASH!*_** The tree behind him was smashed in before it was knocked away. Unable to help himself, Awesome let out a bit of a scream - both because of his surprise and because of the small splinters he could now feel on him. Still, he kept a tight hold on his blaster as he got back onto his feet and turned around.

The creature roared, all four of its eyes going sharp and glaring directly at him. Awesome could feel himself start to shake slightly, but he forced himself to not only stay put, but to also raise his blaster. “Okay, steady-” The monster crouched, cautiously moving forward, as if trying to judge whether or not another attack would be safe or not. Awesome in-turn took a couple steps back.

He tried to focus on remembering Peepers’ words. “K-Keep it steady… Plant your feet firmly… Uh, what was-? Ah, right, squeeze it gently, look down the top of the blaster, aim-” He paused, wincing slightly. Aiming always seemed like the hardest part, and he had no idea why! It always seemed like he had a pretty good chance of hitting where he wanted to whenever he tried to aim, but then it would be totally off when he fired! So what-?

The creature growled, getting impatient as it was quickly figuring out how unprepared its opponent was. As it took another step forward, it began to lift his arms. It was now or never, and- as a split second decision, Awesome closed one of his eyes (these blasters were made for Watchdogs, after all) before firing.

Peepers wasn’t lying, the weapon certainly had a bit of a kick to it, but at least it didn’t knock him flat onto his butt. It only caused him to stumble slightly, though Awesome didn’t really focus much on that once he saw the results. 

It hadn’t been a totally direct hit, but the monster had been hit in the shoulder, giving it a fairly decent burn. At least that was something! …Even if it did seem to make it angrier. Giving a determined look of his own, Awesome backed up even more as he prepared to fire again. In seconds, the creature gave a snarl and began the fight once more. 

It was intense, but it was also sort of similar to his fight with the first creature. Dodge, dodge, run, find an opening, fire, dodge again. Most of hits shots hit nonlethal areas, and even the ones that did hit in the chest or brushed past its head didn’t leave too deep an injury, but at least he was doing some damage and mostly avoided receiving it. Even as he started to feel fatigue once more, Awesome still felt himself slowly regain some confidence. 

“Come on, dude!” he shouted at the creature, “Don’t you think it’s time to call it a day?!” The monster roared, and Awesome prepared his next shot. However, as effective as Awesome’s strategy was, it quickly became predictable, and his opponent was now prepared. Growling, he raised his huge fists and smashed them into the planet’s surface, shaking their surroundings violently as it launched itself towards the shark-man.

Yelping, Awesome blindly fired, missing completely as he tried to stay standing. Of course, with no hit to slow it down, the creature was able to quickly close the gap between it and his enemy. And without hesitation, it swung its arm and completely knocked the blaster out of Awesome’s hand, sending it at least ten feet away.

Only letting the shock of being disarmed stun him for a moment, the recruit went back to his original plan of running, but was quickly stopped and knocked back down by another swing before he could even get out of the monster’s range. The growls were louder than ever, he could actually feel the creature’s hot breath on the back of his head. 

“Grop-!” he muttered, gritting his teeth. Now what could he-?! …Well, it was a long shot but hey, what was that old saying? Better to go out fighting? 

Pushing his fears down one last time, Awesome reached down to his hip. His back-up blaster felt so much smaller in his hand than the level 3 blaster, but he tried not to let it discourage him too much. Instead, he rolled over, faced the creature, raised his blaster, and fired!

…Complete miss. Just an inch - maybe even less - above its head. He could almost feel the color drain from his face as his heart sank. 

The creature let out one last deafening roar as it raised its large fists so quickly that it almost seemed effortless. Having no time to do anything else, Awesome clenched his eyes shut, and-

There was a loud crackle above him, like a thunderstorm had just came out of nowhere. The air around him seemed to buzz with energy as the monster screeched with both frustration and pain. However, after only a couple seconds, the noise went from being extremely close to becoming fairly distant. It was the loud thud though that finally caused Awesome to open his eyes. 

The creature was no longer right on top of him but instead several feet away, and everything Awesome could see was bathed in green light… 

“Hmph, that’s right. You’re not allowed to destroy him!” a familiar, slightly gravely voice shouted above him, “So just get out of here! Now!” There was another growl, but there was no real bite or threat to it. The monster knew when it was outmatched. So, it glared at them all once more before turning away and walking out of the forest, back to its and it’s companion’s cave. 

As soon as it left, Awesome could start to hear several cheers behind him, and the green light slowly started to fade. “Dumb monster,” Hater mumbled as he landed in front of the shark-man, “Don’t think it’ll be dumb enough to mess with us again, though.”

“Of course not,” Peepers said suddenly from behind them, making Awesome flinch slightly, “Though it could still be an obstacle when we try to get resources, especially since now that we know there are multiple ones ranging in size and strength. But perhaps we could use a drill or drone to collect the resources here.”

“Hmm, yeah, maybe,” Hater replied, crossing his arms as he turned to look at his commander, “And if those don’t work, we could probably just get Wander and Sylvia here to use hugs or whatever to get them to back off.”

Peepers sighed. “I, I suppose that’s also an option, but I’d save it as a plan B. _Or maybe a Plan Z_ … Well?” 

Awesome didn’t give a reply, though only because it took him a moment to realize that Peepers was now talking to him and not Hater. “Huh? Oh, uh-” He sat up, wincing slightly as he put his blaster back in his holster. 

“Looks like you’re not seriously hurt,” Peepers stated. Awesome decided to take it as a compliment considering there (surprisingly) wasn’t any disappointment in the commander’s voice at that.

“Yeah, I’m alright,” he replied, “I’m cool.” Though he didn’t make any move to stand up, even as Hater and the Watchdogs that had come along for emergency back-up started to head back to the ship. …But, neither did Peepers.

“…We had no idea that there was a second creature here, you know,” he mentioned after a moment or two of silence, “Or that it was a bigger threat than the first, otherwise it would’ve been a mission suited for three or four men, not just one.”

Awesome nodded slightly, still looking forward rather than to the side. “Right…”

“…But, for having to deal with such a huge surprise under pressure… You really didn’t do half-bad.” And _that_ , was what made Awesome finally turn to look at him. 

“And, I suppose you did do a decent job of remembering your training,” Peepers continued, obviously trying to keep his voice as casual and nonchalant as possible, “You seem to have the basics down, and it seems you’ve improved somewhat in firing a weapon, though there’s always room for improvement. Plenty of room. …But you still proved yourself somewhat. And, what you did today certainly wasn’t cowardly. Maybe a bit foolish but, not cowardly.”

Awesome stiffened slightly. Maybe if he hadn’t been so focused on the mission he would’ve realized it earlier, and honestly it didn’t surprise him in the least that Peepers would give him a bugged communicator. He had heard everything…

“…So, yes. It wasn’t a perfect mission but… I’d say it was still a success. So, good work. …Pretty good work.”

“…” Slowly, Awesome smiled, a short laugh escaping past his lips. “…Thanks, Peeps.” After a moment, he added, “You see? I told ya a few compliments wouldn’t kill you.”

“Oh shut up.” Awesome laughed, and started to stand up. He winced again, though managed to mostly keep his smile on his face. “You are to go to sick bay,” Peepers ordered, “No point in training if you’re seriously injured. However, once you are cleared, you are to work on your ship duties for today, understood?”

Awesome hummed. So no extra training today, huh? A bit of a nice reward. “Sir Yes Sir,” he casually (yet still somewhat respectively) told him with a nod before walking away. Peepers watched him for a moment before moving to head back to the ship as well, quickly catching up with and eventually leading the shark-man to it.

()()()()()()()()()

The alarm screeched, and after a couple annoying seconds, Awesome turned it off. He was still feeling pretty sore from the day before, but part of him was hoping that Peepers would continue to take it easy on him. “Then again, this _is_ Peepers we’re talking about,” he told himself.

Maybe Hatey could become somewhat of a nice guy, but there’s no way Peepers could - both because it was pretty impossible, and because he was sure the commander wasn’t interested in being nice - and any nice moments he did have were temporary and most likely accidental.

“But whatevs,” Awesome shrugged, slipping on his shirt. He still had a couple things that he could think about to keep him in a good mood that day whether or not he and Peepers ended up slipping back into old routines and arguing. So, at least that was something.

Opening his bedroom door, he started to walk out- and nearly tripped over the small bundle of clothes in his way. “Huh? Wait, but I already-” Confused (and trying to shake off the feeling of deja vu), he picked up the bundle, put it on his bed and opened it. As he laid out each article of clothing, his smile quickly returned.

The shirt and pants were still stretchy and black with a red lightning bolt on the chest, but the sleeves on the shirt had been cut a bit. Not sleeveless by any means, but they would only go down about half his arm now. A bit of a popped collar had also been added to the shirt. There was no dumb hat in sight, but there also wasn’t any bling, make-up or anything shiny either. Disappointing but understandable, given that it was a safety hazard and a hindrance to any sneaking mission. There was however a small clip with the Hater Empire logo on it that he could easily attach to his dorsal fin. The red gloves had been made fingerless, but the boots were still totally flat. Not exactly a big surprise there, Awesome figured that Peeps wasn’t going to let him forget his true height for a long time.

But still- “Not a bad look, Peeps,” the recruit said, still smiling a bit to himself. Not exactly cool but, not bad. A bit more his style, at least. So, he quickly changed his shirt and gloves, replaced his hat with his clip, and walked out the door. 

Breakfast and the morning prep rally/meeting went by quickly, and when Awesome met Peepers in their private training room, he didn’t give a word of thanks. But, he didn’t complain or growl any either. Peepers of course went back to his usual means of teaching and critique. But, every once in a while, he’d throw in a positive comment or two.

They went through the motions of each move and strategy and he shot at the various targets (managing to actually hit most of them close to the center), but Awesome would still occasionally offer up some sass or a joke. Of course, Peepers would just roll his eye and tell him to be serious, or sometimes even counter with a just-as-snarky retort, but neither of them ever faltered. They just continued to train until they hit their usual stopping time and then went on their separate ways, and the rest of the day went on. 

…It just went on a bit more smoothly (and maybe a bit more enjoyable) than usual, even if neither of them admitted it out loud.

**THE END**


End file.
